Monday, June 2, 2014

College Life: Episode 3: The Cheerleader and The Boyfriends

For the summer, once a week I'll be sharing a story from my college days at CSU, 1984-1988. I will leave links at the end of each post for previous episodes.

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It did get better once The Cheerleader moved in next door. Her "real" name was Tara, and she was actually a cheerleader, for CSU, so somewhat famous on campus, and a bit of a steadying influence on the trio. We all know how well triads work in female friendships, don't we? (Guys: it doesn't. Someone is always on the outside looking in at a much more solid connection, and someone else is being gossiped about. A lot.) I think you can see where this trio headed...

She was kinda the cream to the black coffee and sugar, trying to take something a bit bitter, and unpalatable to some, and steady out the "sweetness" of someone trying to please all the people all the time by adding a touch of something smooth, and easier to take. I did like her, but she was definitely Mary-Jo's type, not mine.

Tara came with a sorority attitude. This was the year she was going to pledge, and they spent hours on the floor of my room planning which one, discussing the merits, and of course the all important connection each had with a sort of "brother" fraternity, therefore making this decision all the more critical.

I just went to my math classes. They went to most of their classes. They were both psych majors. Tara was on her third major. (Can you see how choosing a sorority might take some time when you can't decide what to study?)

Then came the afternoon I couldn't get into my room. I'd gotten past the front door, because it wasn't after hours yet, and I had my ID and keys (two items I checked for constantly - did NOT want to be without them in any circumstance.) However, I couldn't get my room open. The doorknob key worked just find, but the deadbolt wouldn't turn.

Puzzled, I knocked on Tara's door. No answer. Of course I had no cell phone, so I knocked on my own dorm room door. "Mary-Jo? Are you in there?" No answer. Dead silence. Frustrated, I sat down to formulate a plan. I don't know how long I was sitting there until I started hearing faint noises from inside MY room. I decided to wait it out. She, or someone, was in there, had surely heard me knock, and was maybe thinking about letting me in.

I was still waiting when I met Deanna. She wandered by, I knew she lived on our floor, and I said hi.

"Oh, the old forgot the tie on the door thing...how rude. Wanna come down to my room and meet my hideously gross roommate while you wait?"

Why not. I didn't know about ties, but at least there was another person with a rude roommate, and she seemed nice. Anything to pass the time...

I'm sorry, but I would be absolutely furious. This is a shared room. If you want to be intimate with someone then you choose a place with doesn't cause a problem for someone else. Doing otherwise is very selfish.

Funny story, but yet another reason why I'm glad I never lived in a dorm. I don't want anyone doing anything bad in my room except me. My brother in law once house-sat for me and did many nasty things with the date he brought along in our room. My wife and I just threw out all the bedsheets afterwards. We didn't even wash them - you can't scrub a mental picture. If I could, I probably would have burned them.

When I first visited this world I was irritated by the fantastical tales of fast travelling. For people to travel over the world in a matter of hours is, of course, ludicrous.

However, when I read your sedate words, it leads me to believe that your world is not that different from mine. We all have our problems and the way we deal with things makes us who we are today.

In my world, that leads us to having some morally questionable members of the Royal Families who expect to be "fairest of them all", but it appears that your experiences have made you a stronger person.

It says so much that you can write about such angered times while maintaining a smile upon your face.

Hey, you and I are exactly the same age. I don't think I knew that. Man, I LOVED my Freshman dorms, but I can't think of anybody who would have done that... We DID collect keys if a room was going to be empty for the weekend in case someone wanted use, but never without warning mid-day. Very rude.